Colt Brinkerhoff’s NHHA Round 2 Report

I was very excited going into this round of racing as I had been working harder than a dog in heat to get my fitness and quad feeling great! Skyler and I loaded up the Sprinter and headed down to Red Mountain for the 2nd round of NHHA. I took my first So Cal win here last year and was feeling very confident to do it once again. We arrived to the race site pretty early, which was nice for a change. We had a long time to hang out with everyone and make sure the bikes were where we needed them to be. I was pumped also because the Western Designs team had a scheduled photo shoot with Mark Kariya Himself! He got some great pictures of all of us riding and it was great to hang out with team, little Gerald bonding time. By the time we finished it was dark so I mobbed it back to the pits to get ready for the morning.

Race Day!

I woke up and took my Precision Nutrition Plus Protein and Glyco Fueler which is a staple in my race program. Opting out to eat anything as usual for the morning I felt like I would be fine, guess I would find out if I was right. I headed to the line to check out the bomb as I didn’t get to ride it the day prior. I lined up to the widest line I could find and waited anxiously for our time to race. The wind was ripping all weekend but it always comes to an advantage when you race in the dez, as it pushes the good ole Cali dust away. It was our turn to go, the readied the banner as I rested my foot on the kick starter ready to drop the hammer! A couple minutes went by it felt like with nothing, hardly blinking. The hint of the banner coming down in slow motion from the wind and first kick the tank had started, I was off! I pulled off the line in first, which was a big improvement from the first round, had to buy new boots after kicking so much! I was immediately under attack from round 1 winner Keith Carlson as we barreled to the banners at the end of the bomb. He ended up edging me out and the race was on. Keith ended up getting hung up on some rocks early on as I made a pass on him.

A few miles later he had caught back up to me and made a pass. I was just keeping him in my sights as I knew it was going to be a rougher than Donald Trumps hair piece, filled with big whoops and huge rock fields. About mile 5 of the 52 mile course I ended up getting sick, my legs could barely hold me up and it was hard to focus correctly. I just had to keep pushing and focus on reeling Keith in. I ended up getting lost for only a second one time of the race but quickly got back on the course. I finally came to the smoothest part of the course which was a fast trail right by the highway, I clicked 5th I knew I had to catch up quickly before the pits. Going through the pits I was drinking some water trying not to speed through as there was a 15MPH speed limit. I got to my pit and noticed Keith had stopped at his pit about 100 yards up the trail. I looked at his right front tire and noticed it was toed in a lot, he had a broken quad. This is where I knew I had to capitalize. We took off through the desert together; he had jumped in front of me.

We reached the first rock section, his right front tire hooked sending him spinning out sideways, his quad had hit mine but I found a way around him as I yelled “What’s up buddy!” I knew at that moment that his race with me was over; the last 15 miles were filled with big boulders and rock gardens. I was only able to do 1st and 2nd gear through this entire section having to find my own lines as it would get to tight. It finally opened up towards the finish line and cruised to the checkers. It was one of the gnarliest courses I have raced on, I don’t know if it was because I was feeling sick or it was that grueling.

These are the type of races that I absolutely love, I really had to dig deep, stay calm and conserve my energy to finish and come home with the win. Taking a quote from one of my favorite motivational speeches “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe; then you’ll be successful.”

Megan grew up riding quads and got involved with the racing community in 2004, creating PitTraffic.com in 2005. A lifelong love of motorcycles keeps her involved, while her two small kids keep her very busy.